Prison Break will be returning to the small screen in 2017, and fans can look forward to seeing more of the adventures of Michael and Lincoln as they try to beat yet another prison. Still, fans shouldn't count on the revival feeling just like a continuation of the show where it left off. The next set of episodes is going to be different from the first four seasons in some big ways. Actor Robert Knepper has this to say about what's going to be new for Prison Break in 2017:
We're going to go into a much deeper place, more mature, more brazen and simpler.
Robert Knepper shared what is going to feel different for the Prison Break revival in a chat with THR. The actor played Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in 75 of the 81 episodes of Prison Break's initial run on Fox. We can definitely trust that he knows what he's talking about when it comes to comparing Seasons 1 - 4 to the revival.
Fans might be at least a little bit bummed that the next episodes won't be a return to form for Prison Break. After all, part of the fun of revivals is the novelty of getting bonus episodes of a beloved series that was seemingly gone forever. It's sounding like the revival of Prison Break is going to feel more like a sequel than a Season 5. Still, given that Season 4 ended with the characters convinced that Michael was very definitively dead, some changes in tone were going to be necessary for the revival to work. The crew can't just pick off where they left off; Sara is re-married, her son with Michael is being raised with the help of another man, and Lincoln is off moving on as best he can.
Luckily, star Wentworth Miller has revealed that Prison Break won't diverge entirely from its roots. Michael evidently hasn't forgotten a big part of what helped him escape with his brother back in the earlier days of the series. Here's what Miller has to tease about what will be familiar about Michael's next method of breaking out of prison:
a fresh set of tattoos
The tattoos will be central to the plot of the revival, although they won't be used the same as Michael's Season 1 tattoos. The tattoos of the prison schematics made sense when Michael first broke into prison to rescue Lincoln; he won't have had the same resources for his tattoos in the years since the original series finale. It's hard to say at this point just how they might influence the plot; we know that the revival has been inspired by The Odyssey, but Odysseus didn't exactly use any tattoos to navigate his way home from the Trojan War. We can only guess at this point.
Luckily, the recent San Diego Comic-Con provided some new footage to help with our guesswork. Check out the Comic-Con trailer for the Prison Break revival for a peek ahead at what's to come:
Unfortunately, Prison Break won't be back on the air for a while yet. The next set of episodes will debut in midseason 2017 with ten episodes that will air on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox. Take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you'll be able to catch on the small screen while you wait for Prison Break to return.
